


day 4: giving thanks

by orphan_account



Series: the twelve days of shipmas (giving edition) [4]
Category: UNIQ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Artist!Sungjoo, M/M, Magician!Seungyoun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: he hadn’t meant to produce ten pages of sketches in one sitting. hadn’t meant to babble nonsensically to seungyoun after the crowd had dispersed post-show mentioning words like ‘modelling’, ‘please’ and ‘pay’. hadn’t meant to sound disappointed when he was turned down but didn’t even need to go that far when seungyoun hadn’t hesitated in giving his name, laughing and then saying yes, reaching over into sungjoo’s coat pocket to pluck out his ace of hearts, a string of digits scrawled on the bottom next to the doodle.





	

**Author's Note:**

> twelve days of shipmas challenge for u-n-i-fics.tumblr.com
> 
> full prompt list on my tumblr

“this is,” seungyoun stares at the gallery wall in front of him, artfully arranged watercolours of a familiar figure surrounded by card suits and fire brightening up the hall, “amazing. more than amazing. amazing times infinity.”

sungjoo chuckles nervously, hands shoved in the pockets of his dress pants and toying with the small traces of lint and a gum wrapper he finds in there. at twenty four, it’s his first exhibition in an actual gallery, a place where they’re actually paying him to show his art, where people could bring home a piece of his soul to hang neatly on their walls for visitors to make polite comments about. his mum had nearly cried and his dad had bawled when he’d told them the news, barely able to keep the giddiness and disbelief out of his voice. despite being on a twenty fifth anniversary celebration cruise in the middle of the pacific, they’d been on the verge of purchasing express tickets to shanghai but he had managed to talk them down after a couple of hours on the phone, assuaging them with promises of pictures and shakily shot video as courtesy of his brother. it had felt unreal at the time and it still feels unreal now despite the lingering taste of champagne and smoked salmon in his mouth.

it’s all thanks to his model.

without him as inspiration, sungjoo would never have been able to paint the way he did for this exhibition. of course his usual artwork was good, good enough to sell on the streets at least, to tourists who couldn’t tell the difference between korean and mandarin but wanted a small portrait of themselves in front of the huangpu river to show off their ‘cultured’ selves back home. it had been a stroke of luck to come across seungyoun whilst on a short sketching break, the magician wielding nothing more than two decks of cards and a silver tongue to keep his audience hooked on his every word.

there’d been a startling glint in seungyoun’s eyes that had drawn him into the throng of people gathered around, the sardine-packed crowd somehow allowing him to squeeze to the front like yet another one of seungyoun’s magic tricks. the next thing that had caught sungjoo’s eye was the remarkable way the man carried himself, fluid but brash confidence tempered with the autumn brown of his hair and his mischievous canine tooth that jutted out a little. black studs had adorned his ears, matching the well fitted pants that emphasised the swell of his ass and cuffed just above his ankles. sungjoo hadn’t realised that he was gripping his pencil and pad that tightly until he flipped it open to do some quick sketches and found crescent moons from his nails on the cover and crinkles in the paper.

his pencil had flown across the page the way it hasn’t had in months, suddenly fed by a fuel without a name. sungjoo’s eyes had flicked from the man’s figure to the pad, each time finding something new he could add in. he had just intended them to be quick motion sketches, perfectly capturing the moment when the magician would make a chosen card disappear in a flourish only to make it reappear with a plume of smoke in his mouth, perfectly pristine though creased. elongated lines for his limbs, stretched out in mystery and invitation to his audience and delicate strokes for his smirk and the bangs covering half his forehead.

“ - volunteer?”

sungjoo had done nothing more than stare dumbly as the magician winked at him, standing a little more than eye-to-eye in front of him. he’d picked a random card from those spread out for him without a second thought, more than aware of all the eyes trained on him as he looked down at it. the ace of hearts, he registered faintly, before a pen was pressed into his hand.

“sign it.” the magician had grinned, sharp with charm, “anything you’d like.”

his pen whipped around quickly in the corner before the card was taken away, snug between the fingertips of the performer and then held between his lips.

“watch.” he’d said but he didn’t really need to, he’d already attracted their attention. he lifted the card to his lips and clenched it between them, tilting his head towards the sky. in the next second, the card burst into blue flame, burning down into ash that was swept away by the gust. before the fire could reach his mouth, the magician tossed his head neatly and the final remnant of the card burnt out mid-air and was swept away by the wind before it hit the ground. he arched an eyebrow arrogantly and showed his hands to the audience, slender fingers and small palms revealing no trickery. he clapped once, twice and on the third time, the blue back of a card revealed itself, conjured from thin air.

“is this your card?” he flipped the back over to reveal sungjoo’s card, the ace, complete down the bottom with his mini-caricature of the magician’s outfit. he smiled, showing off his mismatched canine and dipped his head in a short bow to resounding applause.

sungjoo had resolved in that moment, to make this man his muse. at that point he hadn’t been sure of the how, the when or even the who. ‘why’ had been answered for him though and that was more than enough. he was held spellbound for the rest of the show, in the thrall of a man who held fireworks in his blood and cards in his hands.

he hadn’t meant to produce ten pages of sketches in one sitting. hadn’t meant to babble nonsensically to seungyoun after the crowd had dispersed post-show mentioning words like ‘modelling’, ‘please’ and ‘pay’. hadn’t meant to sound disappointed when he was turned down but didn't even need to go that far when seungyoun hadn’t hesitated in giving his name, laughing and then saying yes, reaching over into sungjoo’s coat pocket to pluck out his ace of hearts, a string of digits scrawled on the bottom next to the doodle.

he hadn’t meant to spend the next ten months falling hopelessly in love with his model, aspiring stage magician cho seungyoun and part-time university student. they’d bonded over botched paintings and tricks, homesickness, kimchi, music, shattered dreams and nikes. they’d kissed over a bucket of spilled paint that flecked seungyoun’s new deck of cards with yellow specks that refused to go away. they’d fought over a fire trick gone slightly wrong in sungjoo’s apartment and a pair of missing socks in seungyoun’s dorm. they’d made up with a pair of caged doves watching them and ended up with charcoal-smudge bruises on their hips.

“ - so talented. you made me look beautiful, gorgeous even.”

“i paint what i see,” sungjoo lets his hand brush against seungyoun’s, paint-stained fingers intertwining with seungyoun’s deft ones gently, “and i see someone pretty close to perfection.”

“sap,” seungyoun sighs melodramatically like he’s troubled but his eyes are shining bright as spring water, mellower than his performance gaze from the wonder reflected in them. sungjoo feels a longing for his sketchpad again.

sungjoo hums in response and they stand there in silence, appraising the evolving flow of art from muted monochrome to bright blends of pastel colours on the wall as people mill around them like water.

sungjoo squeezes seungyoun’s hand.

_thank you._

seungyoun squeezes back.

_thank you._


End file.
